Television

As science fiction, and dystopian cyberpunk in particular, surge in mainstream popularity – see “Blade Runner 2049,” “Dredd” or the upcoming “Alita: Battle Angel” – a question often asked is: Can this genre be adapted for younger audiences? A possible answer might be that yes, and animation is the perfect medium with which to do

Disney Media Distribution Latin America (DMDLA) has unveiled two new original TV series projects, teaming with high-profile producers on the Latino TV drama scene. “Cazadores de milagros,” a 13-episode TV series, co-produced by Disney with Spain’s Mediapro Group, Mexico’s BTF Media and Miami-based Somos Productions, will combine fiction and reality. Partnering with Naím Media Group, Disney

CANNES — Dominic West, detective Jimmy McNulty in David Simon’s “The Wire,” was in Cannes on Monday to receive Canneseries’ first Excellence Award. The Award comes months before the festival itself, whose second edition will take place over April 5-10. That said, few would question the merit of “The Wire” star as its first recipient.

Patty Ishimoto’s Element 8 shingle is prepping “Blood,” a crime drama set in Jordan and with Academy Award-nominated director Hany Abu-Assad attached. Sky Vision has just come on board, and will sell the series globally. “Blood” is set to be the first high-end English-language drama series set and filmed in the Middle East with local

Matias Varela and Julia Ragnarsson will star in “Blinded,” the much-anticipated Swedish thriller following a journalist on the trail of corruption in the world of high finance. Ragnarsson and Varela will take the lead roles, with the former playing the journalist Bea Farkas, who detects irregularities at a high-profile bank. Varela is Peder Rooth, the

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Vietnam,” the fourth episode of the third season of “This Is Us.” A little more of the mystery of who Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) was has been unraveled on “This Is Us.” The family man who told his wife Rebecca (Mandy Moore) he was “only

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not seen the premiere episode of “The Conners,” which aired on Tuesday, Oct. 16 on ABC.  The Conners family returned to TV on Tuesday night without their matriarch, Roseanne. Of course, art imitated life in the premiere episode of the reboot, which was the result of “Roseanne” being abruptly cancelled,

Spoiler alert: Do not read until you’ve watched “Keep on Trucking,” the series premiere of “The Conners,” ABC’s new spinoff of “Roseanne.” Thanks to a combination of a wildly public meltdown, ABC’s subsequent “wait and see!” publicity effort, and just plain morbid curiosity, the question of how “The Conners” would deal with Roseanne Barr’s exit

October 16, 2018 4:30PM PT A reboot of the classic sitcom “Alice” has received a put pilot commitment at Fox, Variety has learned. The multi-camera series hails from writers and executive producers Diablo Cody and Liz Astrof. In the series, Long Island housewife Alice Hyatt has finally worked up the courage to leave her cheating husband.

In today’s TV News Roundup, the upcoming Showtime series “Black Monday” rounds out its cast, as does the Epix series “Pennyworth” FIRST LOOKS The Season 2 premiere of hit podcast “What Really Happened?” just dropped, along with a teaser for episode 5. The series follows documentarian Andrew Jenks as he explores the mysterious truths and unanswered

Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) announced on Tuesday the launch of the Nickelodeon Chinese Animation Development Project, a five-year program aimed at creating new animation co-productions both in and with China for that market and abroad. The new project will see VIMN boarding up to two new IP development projects annually as part of the

Synchronicity Films this month scored the U.K.’s second-largest drama launch of the year with BBC One’s “The Cry,” and the series’ distributor, DRG, announced further international pre-sales at Mipcom for the Jenna Coleman-led series. Following a previously unveiled co-production deal with ABC in Australia and distribution in the U.S. with Sundance Now, DRG has now

October 16, 2018 1:55PM PT Dennis Hof, the owner of a brothel featured on HBO and a Republican nominee for Nevada’s state assembly, has died, Nye County officials announced Tuesday. He was 72. According to the Los Angeles Times, Hof’s death was announced during the Nye County Commission meeting by Chairman John Koenig, who said

October 16, 2018 1:45PM PT Freshman ABC series “A Million Little Things” saw enough lift in the delayed viewing ratings to rank among the top 10 shows for week two of the 2018-2019 broadcast season. For the week of Oct. 1-Oct. 7, “A Million Little Things” rose from a 0.8 in Live+Same Day to a

October 16, 2018 12:00PM PT Fox is taking another pass at a series inspired by the life of famed choreographer and creative director Laurieann Gibson. The one-hour series, previously entitled “8 Count,” will now be called “Move.” Silvio Horta has come onboard as a writer and executive producer, taking over from Erika Johnson. It is described

Dawn Olmstead has been named sole president of Universal Cable Productions and Wilshire Studios. NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment chief Bonnie Hammer announced the move Tuesday in a memo to staff. Olmstead will take over as sole head of NBCU’s cable production divisions nine months after she and George Cheeks were named co-presidents of the two studios.

Viacom is joining the battle against Netflix’s hiring practices, filing a suit that accuses the streaming service of poaching a TV production executive. Netflix announced last week that it had hired Momita SenGupta as vice president of physical production for its original series. SenGupta had worked for 10 years at Viacom, most recently overseeing physical

HBO has acquired rights to Studiocanal’s high-end drama “ZeroZeroZero” for Central and Eastern Europe and the Nordic markets, Studiocanal announced Tuesday in Cannes. The eight-part English-language drama about the international cocaine trade, from the team behind Italian crime series “Gomorrah,” stars Gabriel Byrne, Andrea Riseborough and DaneDeHaan. Amazon has U.S. rights. “ZeroZeroZero” was created by

October 16, 2018 9:30AM PT A spinoff of the fantasy drama series “Grimm” is currently in the works at NBC, Variety has learned. The untitled spinoff hails from writer and executive producer Melissa Glenn, whose recent TV writing credits include “Iron Fist” Season 2, “Zoo,” and “Beauty and the Beast.” Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner, who

Hervé Villechaize, most familiar for his turn on “Fantasy Island” before his premature death, is an unlikely biopic subject. As the assistant Tattoo on the TV drama, Villechaize was treated as if his short stature made him a supernatural freak. His cultural impact has been an accented catchphrase (“De plane!”) and his status as a

HLN, once known as CNN Headline News, will deliver fewer headlines as a result of the cable network’s latest programming shift. Executives are pulling back on the news programming that has filled the outlet’s daytime schedule in a wide-scale retrenchment at the network, which is part of AT&T’s CNN. HLN in recent years has stocked

October 16, 2018 9:00AM PT [embedded content] After Tyler “Ninja” Blevins appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” Friday, Ellen decided to return the favor by appearing on Ninja’s stream on Tuesday. Ellen noted that the video in which Ninja taught her how to play “Fortnite” was trending as the number three most-watched video on YouTube

Susanna Dinnage is putting her mark on Animal Planet, with a new look for the channel and a lineup of global shows. The refreshed Animal Planet will go out of the gate with a series featuring the family of the late Steve Irwin, the Australian conservationist who had deep links with the Discovery-owned wildlife and

October 16, 2018 7:29AM PT CANNES — “Everybody Loves Raymond” creator Phil Rosenthal and “Step Up” director Adam Shankman have cut a deal to adapt the Japanese TV series “Train Man” as a musical comedy for the U.S. market. Rosenthal has teamed with “Raymond” alum Tucker Cawley and director Shankman to created a half-hour series

October 16, 2018 7:02AM PT BBC Studios has launched TalentWorks, a new content label aimed at identifying digital talent with whom it can partner to develop new content and IP. The label’s first project will be a collaboration with YouTube stars Dan Howell and Phil Lester on a broadcast version of the pair’s live show,

Marc Burstein has been covering elections since 1998. Now the ABC News executive is gearing up for what he believes will be an event of seismic proportions. The 2018 midterm elections on Nov. 6 were always going to be contentious, says Burstein, ABC News senior executive producer of special events, but in the wake of

It started with a long-ago conversation with astronomer Carl Sagan, which awoke an abiding interest in UFOs and the possibility of extraterrestrial life in Robert Zemeckis. That led in part to 1997’s “Contact,” which Zemeckis helmed, and, now, “Project Blue Book,” which he’s executive producing for A+E Studios. The show bears more than a passing

It took a made-for-reality-TV president to get Americans addicted to television news again. Over the year-plus of the Trump presidency, cable news has supplanted prestige dramas as the talk of the virtual water cooler, no matter your political allegiance. From the provocative media tours of James Comey and Stormy Daniels to the incendiary Senate hearings

Germany’s Beta Film is set to partner with German production company Neuesuper on new English-language sci-fi drama “Children of Mars,” Beta announced Tuesday at Mipcom in Cannes. The eight-hour series, which will be directed by Christian Schwochow, follows 13 astronauts on a one-way journey to Mars. It marks Neuesuper’s first venture into English-language drama. Set

Spanish TV giant Mediapro Group and Vice Studios have sealed an alliance to co-develop and co-produce original scripted TV series, kicking-off with project “Border Republic.” “Republic,” as recounted by Vice, is set on the border between U.S. and Mexico, in Matamoros and Brownsville, two cities that share the same culture, being in different countries. In